Blacklisting Proposal Public Comment Deadline Extended

ABC members have more time to respond to a proposal implementing President Obama’s Fair Pay and Safe Workplaces Executive Order 13673, known as the “blacklisting” EO, signed July 31, 2014. The public comment deadline for a proposed rulemaking issued May 28, by the Federal Acquisition Regulatory (FAR) Council and proposed guidance by the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) implementing the blacklisting EO has been extended from July 27 to August 11.

ABC has serious concerns with the proposal, which, as written, creates a sweeping regulatory scheme on federal contractors that will disrupt the federal procurement process, significantly increase red tape and costs for both government and industry, and serve as a barrier to federal contracting for many businesses. It may result in quality ABC contractors being arbitrarily and unfairly blacklisted from future federal contracts by newly created bureaucrats.

In addition, ABC National sent a survey to determine the impact of the proposal on ABC member federal contractors in order to build a robust regulatory and legal case against the rulemaking. Survey participants almost uniformly said the blacklisting proposal would make the federal procurement process less efficient, more expensive and make them less likely to pursue federal contracts. More than half of the respondents said the blacklisting proposal will compel them to abandon the pursuit of federal contracts.

Be on the lookout for an action alert through the ABC National grassroots system requesting members to submit formal comments into the official rulemaking record. For more information about ABC’s fight against the blacklisting proposal, visit www.abc.org/blacklisting or contact brubeck@abc.org.